


Heart to Heart

by xanster



Series: Real-Life Matters [6]
Category: DBSK | Tohoshinki | TVfXQ | TVXQ
Genre: Angst, Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-07
Updated: 2017-11-25
Packaged: 2019-01-30 18:24:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12658956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xanster/pseuds/xanster
Summary: One.Love is more than just being together.





	1. [Teaser] - I.

Being together.

That's part of what love is about, isn't it?

The companionship.

The physical aspect.

The touching.

The kissing.

The hand-holding.

The sex.

 

Sure, 

Love is about finding happiness in another;

It is about having someone to be there for you no matter what,

No matter when,

In all shapes and forms of  _you_ , 

There would always be  _someone_.

 

Some people mistake lust for love.

Some people mistake desperation for love.

Some people mistake abuse for love.

Some people mistake obligation for love.

Well, we all make mistakes.

 

But there are many types of love.

I love you  _enough,_

To let you be free.

To let you hurt me.

To let you take me.

To be with you.

Isn't that love as well?

 

You might say it is a  _wrong_ love.

In the eyes of the law, 

In the minds of society,

Against God, yours, mine.

But it doesn't mask the fact that in that pool of darkness that is love,

Against the spectrum of types of love from the deepest black to the brightest hue,

That there was a form of love.

 

Choice, regrets.

Separation.

Guilt.

What is being together?

What is happiness?

And that godforsaken question that continues to haunt me -

What is love?

\---

 

Drops of water smear the ink on the paper.

"Love..."

It would be 5 more years.

 

\---

Love is  _waiting._

For as long as it takes.

For as long as I can take a breath and hold myself alone to sleep at night-

And miss the shape of you beside me-

I will wait.

 

 


	2. [Teaser]: Love.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two.  
> Because good things don't last forever.

It started with  **one _._**

**A day.**

**A meeting.**

**An exchange of glances.**

**A shy request.**

**A coffee spill.**

**A second coffee to replace.**

 

Which led to  **two _._**

**Two days.**

**Another date.**

**And then another.**

**Timid hand-holding in the dark of the cinema.**

**A kiss behind the wall.**

**A faint blush.**

 

And then to  **three.**

A long weekend.

Gentle and then hurried love-making.

Promises.

1) I will love you

2) I will support you

3) I will be with you for as long as I live.

 

**Four.**

Years.

And then because good things don't last.

A broken marriage.

A brother torn.

An abusive husband.

A battered sister.

 

**Anger.**

**Rage.**

~~**Love.** ~~

**It was for love.**

**Revenge.**

 

The blood.

The cries.

The smashing of glass.

A baseball bat.

A broken window.

A body like crumpled paper.

 

**Five.**

It ended with the flickering of the flames.

The crushed dreams and lost future.

The blaring of the sirens, 

Each sounding the beginning of the end.

 

_What about the promises?_

_You promised you would be with me!_

_You forgot!_

 

Eyes devoid of feeling, of a numbing emptiness.

_"But, she's my sister."_

_Then._

 

~~What about us?~~

 

 

 


	3. You.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three.  
> When wedding bells ring doom.

To be honest, no one saw it coming.

Yunho had a sister, Jihye, who he adored and spoiled.

Whatever she wanted - that rabbit toy in the shop window; the meat dish she enjoyed eating (even though Yunho liked it too); the extra sleep (so Yunho volunteered to take over her chores) - even his mother used to joke that his sister complex was getting out of hand.

Yunho didn't really agree.

He just felt that older brothers should take care of their younger siblings, especially if it was a girl.

 

He beat up the first guy that broke her heart, which made her angry because "now no one will ever date me!" 

So he controlled himself and let her go (even though it worried him to no end and he would  _insist_ she texted him when she got home after dates or else he would go and get her.)

 

And then he fell in love himself, which took him further away from the sister who was once the centre of his world.

He met Changmin.

 

\--

Changmin was his junior at work although they served in different departments - he was in sales and Changmin was in accounts.

It was in the break room, when Yunho had just gotten himself a refill of americano and had just turned around to leave when he bumped into Changmin.

 

"Oh, I'm  _so sorry_ , sunbae. Sorry!" were the first panicked words that came out of the younger's mouth as he eyed the rapidly enlarging stain on Yunho's office shirt and the mess of coffee on the floor. He had rushed to get kitchen towels to dab at Yunho's shirt and then he vaguely remembered looking up at the older man, their eyes meeting.

And a rushed offer of a meal to make up for the spill. 

Another offer of another meal.

A date.

A flustered miss and a peck on the cheek, which led to a second try of a press on the lips.

 

 _I love you_.

"Want to meet my sister?"

 

\--

Changmin had met Jihye and her then-boyfriend, a quiet Juseok. 

Yunho did not really approve of him but Changmin put it down to over-protectiveness.

However, when he met the man, he could sort of guess why.

 

In the way he held Jihye's hand a  _bit_ too tightly in a way that made her grimace when she got too excited over sharing a story about the two of them;

In the way he kept eyeing Yunho and Changmin like they stunk;

In the way he was almost rude despite reluctantly calling Yunho "hyungnim" - honorifics meant nothing when there was no real respect after all.

And most of all, 

 

When Yunho asked Jihye about their parents - after all Jihye still lived in their hometown of Gwangju while Yunho was now based in Seoul - and Juseok's eyes had hardened and gripped Jihye's wrist too tightly, making her cry out "Ouch!"

Yunho's eyes had flickered from the action to Jihye's face and had grabbed Juseok's hand, "what the hell are you doing?"

"Nothing, I'm just.."

"Oppa, wha..?" Jihye jumped up, trying to push Yunho back down into his seat.

"I'm leaving," Juseok had snapped, and stomped away from the table.

"I'm sorry, oppa," Jihye had murmured, rushing after him.

 

Changmin remembered an angry and confused Yunho staring after them.

"What just happened?"

 

\--

They had been relaxing on the couch at home when Yunho received a message from Jihye.

It had been a while since he had heard from her after that disastrous first meeting with Juseok.

 

_Oppa, Juseok asked me to marry him._

No, Yunho thought.

_I love him._

No.

 

Changmin remembered with a sinking feeling, how he thought it seemed, it just  _seemed_ that behind Jihye's bright smile, there _seemed_ to be something sorrowful. 

He held onto Yunho's hand as Yunho leaned into him, sadness radiating off him that day.

 

She's my sister.

She loves him.

So that's  _enough_ , isn't it?

 

\--

 

6 months after the wedding.

Which was a quiet affair with only both sets of parents present, Yunho and Changmin.

Jihye had looked at Yunho with tears (of joy?) in her eyes and promised him, "I will work hard to be happy."

Yunho had stared back, wishing with all his might he could whisk her back into the safety of their childhood, and protect her from the big, bad world.

Changmin had looked on, watching the woman he thought of as his sister, with a feeling of dread, walk down the aisle into a future that was unknown.

 

_Too much wariness, too much foreboding for an occasion that should have been overflowing with joy._

_Perhaps we were the silly ones after all._

_We should have stood up and taken Jihye back._

_It was my fault._

_I am a failure as a brother._

 

The bruises, the purple and blue on fair skin.

The red lines that decorated her neck and wrist faintly.

The bite marks.

The long sleeves and pants even in the hot Korean summer.

The eyes rimmed with dark and the smile that was without happiness.

 

Warning signs. 

Non-vocalised cries for help

They say domestic abuse happens to 1 in 4 couples.

Never, never would Yunho have thought it would happen to his dearest sister.

 

_"I'm.. okay._

_Juseok.. he's been having a tough time at work.._

_It's.._

_He loves me!"_

 

Love.

A thing that was now tainted and cursed.

The bane of a person's existence.

 

And then the last straw.

 

A phone call late at night.

As Changmin was washing up in the kitchen.

He heard Yunho's voice, filled with concern.

 

"Jihye?"

She was on speaker.

 

" _Oppa!_

_BANG._

_Please!_

_CRASH._

_Help m.._

_SLAM"_

 

_beep._

_beep._

_beep._

 

\---

 


	4. Enough.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Four.   
> The line between heaven and hell fades in the dark.

_Plonk!_

The basketball lands neatly in the basket and bounces off the asphalt. 

Yunho catches it, raises it above his head and plunks it in again.

 

The breeze is blowing gently.

It's summer but today was not as hot as the others.

One day down.

 _Many more to go_.

 

\---

 

_Oppa!_

Sometimes Yunho can still hear the fear in her voice, in his head - the recurring nightmare.

_Oppa!_

 

 

The wounds on his arms have faded to faint scars. 

But he doubts the wounds in his heart would ever fade away.

 

Sometimes, he sees Changmin in the distance.

At the entrance to the main building, looking out at him standing in the basketball court.

Maybe he would call for Yunho to come in quickly and eat before the food got cold.

Maybe he would be shaking his head and wondering why Yunho was exercising in the middle of a summer day. 

But more times than not, he would blink and look and there would be nothing but a shadow of the illusion that his heart longed to see, day after day.

 

_One day down._

_Many more to go._

 

_\---_

 

Nights are harder than the days.

When time seems to go slower than before.

The ticking of the clock hands, sound louder than usual.

Footsteps of the patrol outside echo at hourly intervals.

 

He can hear the soft snores of the Taehoon sleeping above him.

_What was he in for?_

 

 _"A crime of passion,"_ he recalls writing on the Sunday of the first week he came in and met Taehoon.

A soft-spoken former salaryman who now spent his off-time playing chess and reading.

5 years to his 6. 

" _At least it's someone like Taehoon. I heard in the other places, the quieter men get woken up at night and taken to dark corners by the bigger ones."_

 

The response to that revelation was curt but Yunho could imagine Changmin's worry when he unfolded the simple pages of beige and noticed the smeared ink at the corners.

 

" _Yunho. Please, please keep a low profile. I know you always want to help, but promise me. Please, think of me."_

 

Changmin would have gotten his reply a couple of months later but he would have held the letter tight to his chest, unbidden tears once again escaping from his worn eyes.

 

" _I always am._ _I will work hard here and be the best for you when we meet again. And I will hold you tight, I will beg for your forgiveness, and I will never let you go."_

 

_One day down._

_Many more to go._

_\---_

 

Jihye took a month in hospital before she was allowed to be discharged.

Changmin remembers her bandaged body and small face, hidden behind an oxygen mask.

Juseok had done a number on her, crazed with alcohol and delusion of an imagined infidelity.

When questioned by the police, he could not even answer. 

When she called Yunho, she had locked herself in the bathroom but it was just moments later that Juseok managed to knock down the door.

 

Changmin shudders, unable to imagine what Jihye must have gone through those 6 months - or that dreadful day.

He doesn't blame Yunho for what he did - knowing he might have done the same if it was one of his own sisters.

But he can't help but feel intense guilt and regret - guilt that he had not voiced more opposition when Yunho was already feeling wary; guilt that he had met Juseok that time and not wanted to get involved because he wanted Jihye to be happy. 

_Was she happy?_

Regret because he had felt angry. Angry that he was not able to stop Yunho as he rushed over to Jihye's - angry that Yunho had in a way, chosen the easy and  _wrong?_ way out, that he had sacrificed  _them_ in a blur of desperation.

 

_Are you angry with me?_

_I'm sorry._

_I couldn't control myself._

_I saw her - lying there. And Juseok just watching me._

_And I went mad._

 

Yunho! Yunho!

Stop!

You'll kill him!

 

_Oppa!_

Changmin jerks awake, panting loudly.

He can still hear Yunho's shouts, Jihye's screams, the cry of the sirens, the neighbours..

Juseok had been alive, but barely. Beaten with the baseball bat that Yunho kept in his car.

He just remembers crying, holding onto Jihye, watching the blood fly.

Just  _unable_ to stop him, unable to do anything.

 

Yunho had dropped the bat and come crawling to his side, tears falling down his face.

_I'm a monster._

_They will take me away._

_Changmin, I'm sorry._

 

_Good testimonials from his employer and friends._

_Jihye's testimony of self-defense and months of abuse._

_But -_

**_an eye for an eye will make the world go_ blind.**

 

**So.**

 

**_6 year sentence with possibility of parole._ **

 

_One day down._

_Many days to go._

\---

 

Yunho remembers the first visit from Changmin.

A month after he had entered the medium-security prison in Suwon.

 

 _At least it isn't behind a glass wall_ , he recalls thinking as he raises his hand to gently caress the face of the younger.

I'm so sorry.

 

Be happy, Changmin, he had said, trying to remain upbeat.

If you meet someone else...

 

_Stop._

 

You won't be happy with an ex-convict.

_But I will be happy because it's you, idiot._

 

Don't wait for me.

If at the end of 6 years, if you're still here.

I promise you, we will leave this place.

I will follow you anywhere.

 

A moment's silence.

A quiet compromise and understanding reached.

Two hands entwined tightly that February afternoon as the bell sounding the end of visitation hour rang.

 

_Okay._

_Don't get fat, alright. I still need to see the world with you._

 

One day down.

Many more to go.

 

 

 

 

 


	5. For.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five.  
> Beyond proclamations, let me show you my heart.

_So this is how a heart feels when it aches._

 

The photographs, the happy moments, the milestones.

The family pictures, the friends.

Always missing one - a shadow, a person, someone.

That incompleteness, the missing out.

 

_How do I fill you in?_

 

_\---_

Changmin carefully pastes another photograph on another page.

He writes a date, and a note.

Thinking back of the dinner, of the people who were there -

_Ah, that's right, Jihye seems happier now._

 

 

A half-written letter sits beside him, a reply to its counterpart which was written in standard white with red lines cutting across the pages.

Replies to remarks made two months before.

 _Two months_   _before you can catch up to me_.

He laughs as he re-reads Yunho's (imaged) sulky response to him going to Japan ( _without me :( )_ with Kyuhyun and going on a ramen tour ( _Changmin! :(( )._

Sometimes he forgot and felt sad - trying to recall why Yunho said something in such a way, and what  _was it_ that  _he_ had said to garner such a response?

Letters to and from prisoners took 2 months to reach their intended party. Changmin was lucky, he had that and his thrice-monthly visits to the prison (Prisoners received monthly visits and Yunho had to spread his out amongst him, Jihye and his parents).

 

 _Sucks if we are fighting, though_ , he remembers Yunho laughing during one such visit.

_I literally have to pause my feelings and then get angry again when we next meet._

Is it worth it to get mad then?

He had gotten mad, not because it wasn't true but because Yunho had tried to laugh it out.

 

\---

_Idiot. If you had just controlled yourself and let the police come..._

 

But Changmin knew - love for Jihye; a bond between siblings; of a protective older brother who saw his baby sister injured and bleeding by a man who was supposed to love and take care of her. 

 

_Anger. Grief. Sorrow. Betrayal._

_Was I unreasonable to be angry?_

_That Yunho had nearly destroyed our future together because he had lost his mind?_

 

**Violence begets violence- the soft man he knew who loved animals and kids, was in front of his eyes, beating up a wife-beater with a bat.**

 

_**How fast can love turn to hate - the monster inside all of us.** _

 

_I'm a monster._

_I deserve this._

Yunho had encouraged him to go out and meet new people,  _don't waste your time waiting for an ex-convict, Changminnie! Hyung will be happy, regardless!!_

But no one else was as child-like as Yunho, who loved as deeply as Yunho, or smiled as wide.

No one else understood the non-malice behind Changmin's directness nor the shyness that he had when he was in new situations.

_6 years is a long time._

Changmin understood it well - longed for it during the lonely nights when he would grasp himself in his right hand and think of Yunho's mouth on him; when he saw the couples around on Valentine's Day and White Day; when he bought a cake for Yunho on his birthday but could only take a photograph, then eat it himself. 

 

_Nothing is as fun without you._

 

_\---_

_No._

"Dumbass. Don't waste 5 minutes of my precious 1 hour making me mad at you."

"But.."

 

_I. Love. You._

_**Get** it already._

 

_\---_

Changmin remembers Yunho's tears as he sat in the backroom of the court, waiting for the verdict.

His hands were cuffed to his front and his eyes were red.

He did not try to defend himself, the shock of his violent act equally devastating to him as it was to Changmin who watched it happen.

Both of them had to receive counselling - Changmin as a 'victim' (of watching someone he loved become violent); Yunho for 'anger management issues and hidden violent tendencies'.

 

He remembered screaming.

 

_Can't you see, he is a victim as well?_

_In my eyes, your only mistake was that you try too hard to protect all of us_. 

 

\---

 

 

_How do I tell you, you're loved?_

 

\---

 

_Ding._

_"Visitors, please ensure your lanyard is facing outwards at all times and remained seated at the table."_

 

_Ding._

_"Prisoner Jung. You have a visitor today."_

 

Yunho looks up, eyes wide in surprise. It was the first ever visitor announced for him since he entered.

 

_Ding._

Yunho enters the visiting room and walks to Table 18.

He recognises the person sitting at it before he even sees his face.

His heart leaps, his soul sings and his eyes light up.

 

" _Changmin!"_

A soft voice, but steady - his constant rock and pillar.

He isn't scared, he's still here - 

 

"Hey, hyung."

_\---_

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	6. Us.

_One day down,_

_Many more to go._

 

\---

 

"Hey Yunho-yah, you done?" 

Yunho sits back, stretching in place before he twists back in his seat and looks at Taehoon who was still trying to jot down the last words in his worksheet.

He knows he's lucky; that he has been blessed more times than he could have dared to hope for.

How he almost lost everything - his family, his freedom, his  _love_ \- all because he lost control.

Yet, by some miracle, he's still  _here;_ still grateful; still alive.

He has a second chance to try again.

  
"Yep. Hurry up, hyung."

 

Yunho smiles to himself.

 

_Soon._

\---

The visiting professor looks up at his class of students; some disinterested; some already long absent from the class; but most of them - 

Keen, hopeful, optimistic, careful.

It is these things that drove him to seek a career in education, and it is the boy in him that befriended the homeless old men in the station, that did charity work in developing countries that lights up his eyes as he chose to specialise in teaching classes to prisoners. Sometimes, he gets too attached, too hurt when a student falls out or gets pulled deeper into their personal hells - but more often than not, he gets revitalised and redeemed. When a student of his proudly shares that he is nearing parole for good behaviour; or has passed their high school entrance examinations or university placement examinations. It is these things that remind him of why he became a teacher - and more so for a group of people who society had conveniently placed out of sight, out of mind. 

 

"Hey Yunho-sshi?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Please come and see me after class."

\---

It is in his 8th year as a teacher in the Special Prison Education Service that he met a man who was jailed for attempted manslaughter on self-defense grounds, reduced from murder. That man had defended his sister from an abusive husband and it was the many testimonials that sought leniency for him, that had got him a reduced charge with chance of parole. A university graduate with a good job and yet, in one night, it had all gone to naught. That man had come in, in a state of shock and depression. It had been that man's first time turning violent and as the professor had heard from his fellow teacher colleagues, that man had not put up a fight or a defence plea at all; merely accepted his sentencing in silence and entered the prison. At first, the professor had thought of the man as yet another prisoner amongst the many others who were in that medium-security prison. But he noticed something - the way that man tried so hard to stay quiet and hidden. Like he was afraid of something, of someone.

He recognised the emotions well - after all, he had worked 8 years in the prison service. 

 _Fear. Hopelessness._  

He could still be **saved.**

\---

He had introduced himself to Yunho on the morning of the first week of the prison school semester, just two days after he had entered. Yunho was polite but did not say more than necessary. He noticed the faint scars on the taller man's face and the way he clenched his fists, as though he was fighting back something inside.

\---

The turning point was after the first visitation session of the month. 

Yunho had appeared brighter and more optimistic after that. He even initiated conversation with the teachers and his classmates. Quietly, subtly, he noticed how Yunho managed to win the hearts of the hardened prisoners inside. From the jaded prison guards to the lifetime prisoners, Yunho became something like a peacemaker. A negotiator. A balancer. He remembers thinking to himself that Yunho clearly showed the traits for becoming a leader. An MBA would be a good choice. 

"Hey Yunho-sshi". 

"Yes, sir?"

He placed a booklet on the table - it said: Preparatory Diploma Pathway for a MBA. Yunho took one look at it and then looked back the older man with a questioning gaze.

"Yunho-sshi. It isn't too late. Make use of your time here and become a better person."

 

\---

"What do you wanna do when you get out?" 

 

It is free time and Taehoon and Yunho are seated by the basketball court, watching some of the other prisoners play ball.

 

"Well, I need to get a job," starts Yunho.

"Same," replies Taehoon. His friend had been in jail a year longer than Yunho for getting manipulated by his former lover to in an attempted blackmail scam that went bad. He had parents who came faithfully every month to see him and support him - and it was that which made Taehoon sign up for the same course as Yunho's as he wanted to try and rebuild his life. 

"Hey Taehoon-hyung?"

"Yeah?"

"We'll be fine."

"I know."

 

_And like that, hope blooms._

\---

"How can I thank you, Professor?"

"No need for thanks. Just keep in touch and let me know how you're doing from time to time, alright?"

Yunho grits his teeth, almost overwhelmed by gratitude as he clutches the letter that the professor had just handed over to him.

 

He hesitates slightly, looks over at the smiling shorter man and then, he pulls him into a big hug.

His tears threaten to pour out but Yunho's will is almost iron and they don't.

 

His teacher chuckles and hugs him back before pulling away.

"Wait, there is one way you can thank me." 

 

\---

 

He remembers Taehoon's smile and bear hug on his last day.

"Don't be a stranger. This hyung will be waiting to buy you something delicious when you get out."

 

\---

 

_One day down._

_Many days since._

_\---_

Yunho goes into the office, and the mood is quiet, but celebratory.

The staff there, behind the bars that separate the prisoners and the working area are all standing in anticipation.

He looks over at each of them, grateful, humbled and emotional.

Even Jaehyun-hyung, the prison guard and the other prison guard hyungs are loitering behind him, all waiting.

 

He's nervous, not sure of what to expect.

As he signs his name on the form marked: ITEMS RECEIVED, he sees the clothes that he had come into the prison with on his first day; his socks; his shoes and his wallet. 

Jaehyun-hyung pats him on the back and the office staff start to applaud.

 

"Thank you," he starts, and then he feels something wet drop down.

He's crying.

 

_Thank you so much._

 

_\---_

 

The sun is shining when the heavy metal door to the prison opens.

He is almost scared of stepping out across the threshold; unfamiliar to the lack of electric fences and the vast space in front of him.

_Freedom?_

 

 

Then he sees  _him_.

Fidgeting where he stands, watching him as he steps across the white, wide grounds.

No longer separated by a table; or two months between words, emotions, actions.

There, like he had always been -  _waiting_.

 _Changmin_.

 

He runs, and doesn't stop. 

No guards chasing him, no sirens blazing.

He runs and runs.

Until he lands in the warm embrace of Changmin's arms and they reach for each other's faces and kiss.

They kiss and cry, and Yunho mutters soft apologies and "I love yous". 

Changmin blushes, and smiles, and kisses somemore and says quietly, "Don't leave me again."

 

\---

 

3 months later

 

Yunho is nervous again as Changmin fusses over him, straightening his tie. 

He pauses and then pulls the younger man, tightly towards him, breathing in his scent.

His  _home_.

 

"Hey, have I ever told you how much I love you?"

Changmin smirks, but a red flush belies his happiness.

"Too often, it's almost losing its touch."

"Idiot."

 

"Thank you."

He remembers the scrapbook given to him when he had gone home that first day after his release.

6 years of special occasions, of photographs and mementos that Changmin had put together for him.

6 years of waiting.

 

"Marry me?"

He remembers Changmin's eyes tearing up as he shoved Yunho away from him and tried to escape.

"Shut up. And yes."

 

\---

 

The ring around the fourth finger of his left hand gives him strength as he climbs up to the podium,

Behind him, emblazoned across the backdrop is: LAUNCHING CEREMONY OF THE BEGINNING PROJECT.

 

He takes a deep breath, and looks out at the crowd.

He sees Taehoon hyung, his new girlfriend and his parents; he spots Jaehyun-hyung and some of the prison guards; he sees some of the office staff, he sees his prison professor and some of his fellow ex-prisoner friends. Then he sees Jihye, her new boyfriend (which they all like); his parents and lastly, he sees his  _hope._ He sees Changmin standing proudly, clapping loudly and beaming from ear to ear. He spots the ring on Changmin's own ring finger that sparkles as it catches the light and it gives him  _strength_. They catch each other's eyes and Changmin gives him a thumbs up.

 

"Thank you all for being here. As you know the Beginning Project is a non-profit, non-governmental start-up conceived by me that seeks to tie-up talent from the prison sector with industry players in order to bring about change from the inside. For too long, ex-convicts have been treated as waste products to be disposed off and ignored, to be feared and left behind as society progresses. With the Beginning Project, I hope to change that mindset. There is so much potential in those of us who have made mistakes and want a second chance.  

 

My name is Jung Yunho, and I am an ex-convict. This here represents the second chance that was given to me, and I hope to pass it on to my fellow brothers and sisters who deserve it as well. Welcome to the launch of the Beginning Project." 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> The titles of the chapters forms a phrase that encapsulates the theme of this series.  
> I Love You Enough For Us.
> 
> On Domestic Violence:  
> Domestic Violence, what to do https://au.reachout.com/articles/domestic-violence-and-what-you-can-do-about-it  
> Silence is not love - please get help for yourself or others https://www.helpguide.org/articles/abuse/domestic-violence-and-abuse.htm
> 
> On Projects To Engage with Ex-Convicts:  
> Please find out more about the Yellow Ribbon Projects available in your country.
> 
> As a side-note, I had read about a wife who was married to a man who was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. People had asked her why she was willing to be 'alone', to 'wait' when there would be no 'hope'; at this, she said, "who said I am alone? I am loved. Isn't love more than needing to be together?" On the other side, they had asked the husband, what keeps you going, knowing that you won't ever be free? The husband said, "Knowing that I am loved keeps me going." 
> 
>  
> 
> P.S: The Never Too Late muse is on hiatus.


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